What Project Management Specialists earn in Rutherford County, TN
The median pay for Project Management Specialists in Rutherford County, TN is $85,990 per year, which works out to $41.34 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area, the labor market that Rutherford County, TN belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $93,900, which is 9.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,950 people working in this occupation across the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Rutherford County, TN has roughly 360,646 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Project Management Specialists in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $57,390 a year ($27.59 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $136,470 or more ($65.61 an hour). That is a gap of $79,080 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $71,020 at the 25th percentile and $110,390 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.4 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $41.34 an hour or $85,990 a year at the median for Rutherford County, TN. Before any deductions, that is $7,166 a month, $3,307 every two weeks and $1,654 each week. After taxes the same job pays $33.19 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Project Management Specialists
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Project Management Specialists this way: "Analyze and coordinate the schedule, timeline, procurement, staffing, and budget of a product or service on a per project basis. Lead and guide the work of technical staff. May serve as a point of contact for the client or customer."
Job outlook for Project Management Specialists
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,094,300 jobs in 2025 to 1,167,400 in 2035, a change of +6.7%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 76,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $102,320 for this occupation; the Rutherford County, TN median of $85,990 is 16.0% below it.
How pay in Rutherford County, TN compares
Compared with the Tennessee average
Pay for Project Management Specialists in Rutherford County, TN is in line with the statewide figure: $85,990 locally against an employment-weighted Tennessee average of $86,283, a difference of only $293 (0.3%). Within Tennessee, Rutherford County, TN already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Project Management Specialists is $104,422 across the contiguous United States. At $85,990, Rutherford County, TN pays $18,432 less, which is 17.6% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Rutherford County, TN
Among the 532 occupations with published wages in Rutherford County, TN, Project Management Specialists ranks number 95 by median pay, ahead of about 82% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $119,990 a year, which is $34,000 more than the median for Project Management Specialists.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Project Management Specialists earning the Rutherford County, TN median of $85,990, they add up to $16,945. The result is $69,045 of take-home pay a year ($5,754 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $20 goes to taxes and $80 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $70,240. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $10,367, an effective 12.1% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $5,331 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,247. FICA totals $6,578, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Tennessee
Tennessee does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Project Management Specialists in Rutherford County, TN is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $4,300 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $358 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Rutherford County, TN
IRS Statistics of Income data for Rutherford County, TN show an average adjusted gross income of $76,322 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.8% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 8.7%, compared with the 12.1% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Rutherford County, TN
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Rutherford County, TN: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $69,045 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Rutherford County, TN, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,650 a month ($19,800 a year), and at $1,798 for two bedrooms. For Project Management Specialists, a one-bedroom absorbs 28.7% of take-home pay and 23.0% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 4.0% of gross pay for Project Management Specialists in Rutherford County, TN. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Tennessee residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,313 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $421, for $1,733 in total. Gasoline in Tennessee averages $3.08 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,426.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $26,395 a year in Rutherford County, TN. Subtract that from $69,045 of take-home pay and $42,650 remains, which is $3,554 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 49.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Rutherford County, TN
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Rutherford County, TN: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Rutherford County, TN, set beside the Tennessee and national medians.
Property taxes in Rutherford County, TN
Homeowners in Rutherford County, TN pay a median of $1,839 a year in real estate taxes, 28% above the Tennessee median of $1,442 and 41% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $382,600, the median tax bill is 0.48% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Project Management Specialists median of $85,990, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Rutherford County, TN
Renters in Rutherford County, TN pay a median gross rent of $1,502 a month in the Census survey, 26% above the Tennessee median of $1,189. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,650 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $382,600, 33% above the Tennessee median of $286,700. Median household income is $85,470, 23% above the Tennessee median of $69,595, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.2% of that income.
Commuting in Rutherford County, TN
Workers in Rutherford County, TN who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.1 minutes each way, 9% above the Tennessee average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.0% of workers in Rutherford County, TN work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Project Management Specialists afford to live in Rutherford County, TN?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $85,990 that ceiling is $2,150 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,650 is $500 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.73 an hour; the median for Project Management Specialists is $41.34, which is 30% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $33.19 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 11.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,798 a month means $899 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,012 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $51,662.
How fast you can save
At $3,554 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 3 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 6 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Project Management Specialists pay in Rutherford County, TN
How much do Project Management Specialists make per hour in Rutherford County, TN?
The median is $41.34 per hour, based on $85,990 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $27.59 at the 10th percentile to $65.61 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Project Management Specialists take home after taxes in Rutherford County, TN?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $85,990 becomes $69,045 a year. That is $5,754 a month, $2,656 every two weeks or $1,328 a week.
How much tax do Project Management Specialists pay in Rutherford County, TN?
Total taxes are $16,945 a year, an effective rate of 19.7%: $10,367 federal income tax, $6,578 FICA and no Tennessee income tax.
Do Project Management Specialists earn more in Rutherford County, TN than elsewhere in Tennessee?
It is about the same. The local median of $85,990 is within 0.3% of the Tennessee average of $86,283.
Can Project Management Specialists afford a one-bedroom apartment in Rutherford County, TN?
A one-bedroom costs $1,650 a month against take-home pay of $5,754, which is 28.7% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,150 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Project Management Specialists in Rutherford County, TN?
About $3,554 a month ($42,650 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,395 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Rutherford County, TN at the 30% guideline?
$31.73 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,800 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Project Management Specialists is $41.34.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Tennessee rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.